A FAMILY has lodged a complaint against a North-East hospital trust after claiming it failed to protect a grandmother from a superbug they believe contributed to her death.

Last night, County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it was investigating the circumstances that led to the death of 72-year-old Eva Bayles.

Her daughter, Marie Clifford, has accused the University Hospital of North Durham of covering up the full extent of the part the superbug played in her mother's death.

A spokesman for the trust said: "We received a complaint from Mrs Clifford on December 7. It is being investigated, and when the investigations are complete we will be responding to her.

"We offer Mrs Clifford our condolences for the loss of her mother."

Mrs Clifford said her ailing mother was allowed to come into close contact with a patient who was infected with the hospital superbug clostridium difficile, during treatment for breathing difficulties at the Durham hospital.

Within a few weeks, Mrs Bayle was diagnosed with C difficile by a family GP and readmitted to the hospital suffering from severe diarrhoea, a classic symptom of the superbug.

Less than 24 hours after returning to the hospital, where her family are convinced she acquired the infection, Mrs Bayles was dead.

Mrs Clifford, 41, from Esh Winning, County Durham - who has two children, aged 15 and 20 - is accusing the trust of failing to isolate patients with C difficile and failing to enforce adequate hygiene.

She said: "The side ward my mam was in was filthy. There were even cobwebs."

Mrs Clifford is also accusing the hospital of covering up the part that C difficile played in her mother's death. The death certificate simply mentions complications arising from underlying heart problems.

She claims she has been told by staff at the hospital that there are "one or two" cases of C difficile on wards three and four every day.

She added: "My mam was taken into hospital with breathing difficulties. Another lady in the same side ward became friendly with her and even brought her cups of tea.

"Then we heard from her relative that she had been diagnosed with clostridium.

"We didn't think anything of it at the time, but it was three days before that patient was nursed in isolation."

It was only when they saw something about C difficile on the television news that they thought their mother might have been exposed to the bug.

A day after Mrs Bayles was allowed home she began to suffer from diarrhoea.

The infection is known to affect elderly patients particularly and is spread by poor hygiene.

In the past few years, there has been a surge in C difficile cases in the NHS, despite efforts to contain its spread by barrier nursing and increased hand-washing.

At first, her family thought Mrs Bayles would be fine, but with no improvement in the grandmother's condition they called the family doctor.

After samples were sent for tests, Mrs Clifford says the doctor told them that Mrs Bayles definitely had C difficile, was deteriorating and would need hospitalisation.

As her health rapidly worsened, her family watched Mrs Bayles slipping away.

"It was horrific, they kept giving her fluids but she couldn't cope with them - in effect my mum drowned," said Mrs Clifford.

She was transferred from ward three to the hospital's coronary care unit.

She died at 10.10am on Thursday, November 9, less than 24 hours after she was readmitted.

Mrs Clifford said: "I feel that I have lost my mam through their ignorance. I have lost her too soon. I should have had Christmas with her."

The trust pointed out that the latest figures from the Health Protection Agency, for July to September, show an infection rate of 1.58 cases per 1,000 bed days, compared with a regional average of 1.85.